You’re in the queue for your iPhone, you’ve tucked your piggy-bank under your arm and are holding a convenient hammer with which to smash it open in one hand… will you be browsing the AT&T aisles with the other?  Investors and analysts are in two minds about whether the iconic Apple handset will translate into the so-called halo effect, driving sales in AT&T’s other lines.

Predictably, AT&T themselves are ebullient, with expectations that not only will subscribers rise dramatically but sales of other handsets grow too, as people unable to afford an iPhone choose a different cellphone from the company. 

“This is going to drive a tremendous amount of traffic and energy to our stores.  It’ll help our growth not just in iPhones but in our overall business.” Glen Lurie, President for National Distribution, AT&T

Charter Equity Research analyst Edward Snyder is not so enthusiastic, however, suggesting that the iPhone will appeal to just 3 to 5 percent of cellphone buyers.  Citing features unwanted by older buyers and prices too high for a younger audience, Snyder is indeed sceptical that Apple’s first in-house cellphone will even work as well as is expected:

“Implementing a cellphone is absolutely more difficult than anything Apple’s done to date.  Go out and buy an iPod and hold it at waist level and drop it. That’s the end of the iPod.  I don’t think Apple’s going to be a big player in this at all” Edward Snyder, Charter Equity Research

Not everyone agrees; John Hodulik, an analyst for rival firm UBS, sees potential for AT&T to reposition itself as a younger, hipper company, “moving the whole brand” in a strategic way.  It’s a development that the carrier sorely needs; market share of new monthly subscribers has dropped and customer turnover is higher than chief rival Verizon (1.7% of customers a month, as opposed to Verizon’s 1.1%).

In the end, it might come down to how other carriers respond with their product lines.  Industry consultant Chetan Sharma loads up the pressure on Verizon, Sprint and others, highlighting the need for headline-catching, feature-rich handsets:

“If they don’t have a compelling product in the market, it’ll start to show” Chetan Sharma

Here at MYiTablet we want to know what you think.  Does AT&T having the iPhone make you feel more favourable toward the carrier as a whole?  Would you consider another AT&T cellphone simply because of their connection to Apple?  And more importantly, perhaps, what do you think it will take in a rival handset to knock the iPhone from its perch?  Let us know in the comments.

[via New York Times]